Device for holding children in bed.



No. 837,373. PATENTED DEC. 4, 1906. D U. AKERS. DEVICE FOR HOLDINGCHILDREN IN BED.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 14, 1905.

aura-cum;

rrn STATES D CLAUDE AKERS, OF WOODSTOCK,

ATENT OFFICE.

ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF DEVICE FOR HOLDING CHILDREN IN BED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 4. 1906.

Application filed September 14,1905. Serial No 278,436-

lb all whom, it may concern: I

Be it known that I, D CLAUDE AKERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Voodstock, in the county of McHenry and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Device for Holding Children in Bed, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a device for holding children in bed.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, and eflicient device adapted to be readily applied to a bed and capable of preventing an infant or other helpless child from falling from or crawling off of the bed and at the same time allow the child such freedom as is necessary for its comfort.

'Another object of the invention is to provide a device of this character capable of ready adjustment to suit the size of a child and the size of a bed.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompan ng drawings, and pointedout in v the claim ereto appended.

In the-drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a device constructed in accordance with this invention for holding children in bed. Fig. 2 is a detail view of the central portion of the belt or band. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of a bed, showing the device applied to the same.

Like numerals of'reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawin s. s

l designates a belt or band designed to be constructed of any suitable flexible material and provided at one end with a buckle 2 for engaging the other end of the belt or band to enable the latter to be readily adjusted to suit the sizeof the child to which the device is to be applied. Any other suitable means, however, may be emplo ed for connecting the ends ofthe belt or and, which is designed to be placed around the body of the child and which is provided at the center or back with an opening 3 and with a strip or piece 4 of elastic material extending over the opening in a direction transversely of the belt or band to provide a loop or keeper. The strip or piece of elastic material may 1 consist of rubber, elastic webbing, or any other suitable material, and it is'narrower than the opening, which is preferably provided, but which may be omitted, as will be readily understood. The ends of the elastic strip are stitched or otherwise secured to the belt or band, which is adapted to slide .on a bed-strap 5, constructed of flexible material and arranged transversely of a bed 6. The bed-strap 5 extends across the bed, and its terminals, which are passed around the side edges of the mattress 7, are provided with double hooks 8 for engaging the s rings 9, which support the mattress. The s hanks of the hooks are bent laterally and connected by transverse portions 10, which are arranged in loops 11 and. 12 of the ends of the bed-strap. By engaging the hooks with the springs 9, as shown, the device is adapted to move upward and downward with the spring-supported mattress, and thereby obviates the necessity of providing straps or elastic connections for permitting such movement of the mattress. The hooks,

however, may be engaged with the bed in any other desired manner, as will be readily understood. The bed-strap 5 is provided at one end with a buckle or slide 13, which may be of any desired construction and which is adapted to shorten the bed-strap 5 for enabling the device to fit the bed to which it is to be applied.

The bed-engaging strap 5 holds the belt or band down on the bed to revent a child from falling therefrom, and t e sliding of the belt or band on the bed-strap willpermit a child to move from one side of the bed to the other, and the elastic connection will also enable the child to move up or down or turn from one side to the other.

It will be seen that the device is exceedingly simple and inexpensive in construction, that it is adapted to be readily applied to beds of different widths and to children of various sizes, and that it is capable of preventing a child from crawling off or falling from a bed, and at the same time of allowing the child all the movement necessary for its comfort.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A device for holding children in bed, comprising a bed-strap arranged transversely of the bed and having means for securing it tothe same beneath the mattress thereof, a belt or band of greater Width than the bedstrap, and an elastic piece arranged transmove freely from one side of the bed to the other, and also permitting a limited up-and- Io down motion.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afiiXed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

D CLAUDE AKERS.

Witnesses:

L. J. YOUNG, O. A. TIDLUND. 

